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… artists who formed the UK’s first experimental theatre company in negotiating the leases for two office premises. Assisting an individual with the incorporation of a community interest company established to provide personal training and coaching services to vulnerable adults, and supported the client with a rent arrears dispute and negotiating a lease of gym space. Volunteering with BPP University Law School to supervise student case workers providing initial legal advice on areas of …

New legislation coming into force in the United Kingdom will shift the onus onto businesses to act as police officer, informant and star witness in the fight against fraud, McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus wrote in a Feb. 20, 2025, article in The Times. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 — the key part of which comes into force in September — creates an offense aimed at holding organizations liable when employees, agents, subsidiaries or …

McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus questioned the significance of the UK Serious Fraud Office’s first use of an unexplained wealth order (UWO) in a Compliance Week article published on Feb. 10, 2025. On Jan. 17, 2025, the SFO obtained its first UWO at the High Court in London in a bid to recover a £1.5 million property suspected of being purchased with the proceeds of a £100 million fraud. The order required Claire …

In a July 25, 2024, opinion article for Thomson Reuters’ PLC Magazine, McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus addressed the ongoing debate over private prosecutions, sparked by the U.K. Post Office scandal, which Titus described as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in English legal history. The scandal, caused by the misuse of prosecutorial powers by Post Office Limited, prompted discussions on the legitimacy of private prosecutions. Titus argued that while critics question whether …

The British government is under pressure to deal with one of the worst wrongful conviction scandals in the country’s history, but the fallout might provoke ministers to go too far in tightening the rules that allow individuals and organizations to bring private prosecutions, McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus told The Times in a Jan. 18, 2024, story. Between 1999 and 2015 more than 700 postmasters were wrongly convicted of crimes like theft and fraud …

A new form of e-commerce fraud has become an increasingly significant problem for online retailers, McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus cautioned in a March 30, 2023, Raconteur special report, published in partnership with The Times. In an article titled “Warning sines: how to detect and prevent triangulation fraud,” Raconteur reported on a new scam in which fraudsters post fake listings on online marketplaces advertising discounted goods. After taking payment from one person, the fraudster …

McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus and trainee solicitor Oscar Ratcliffe co-authored a recent article in Solicitors Journal on the emergence of private prosecutions in complex fraud cases.The authors cited an October 2022 House of Commons Justice Committee report concluding that fraud is the most commonly experienced crime in England and Wales, but that only .75% of cases are prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service. Private prosecutions, which are initiated and executed by nonstate …

McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus is quoted in The Times’ March 2, 2023, special Raconteur publication devoted to fraud and financial crime.Titus, a partner in the firm’s Government Investigations & White Collar Litigation Department, was interviewed for an article on proposed reforms in anti-fraud regulations. She identified a potential pitfall in a proposed economic crime and corporate transparency bill, which would create a specific offense for “failure to prevent” an economic crime.“If …

McGuireWoods London partners Francesca Titus and Chloe Steele and associate Katie Steven wrote an April 2022 Financier Worldwide article exploring the track record, criticism and likely fate of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office. They also suggested what they consider a good replacement for the fraud enforcement authority.In the article, they pointed to a January 2022 Treasury Committee on Economic Crime report that recommended dedicating a single enforcement agency to fighting fraud and other …

The Times published an article by McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus on Feb. 17, 2022, weighing the likely fate of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), given its recent track record and the number of companies challenging its decisions. Sir David Calvert-Smith, a former director of public prosecutions and High Court judge, recently was appointed to conduct an independent review into the Serious Fraud Office’s “lamentable” handling of a bribery case, she noted. “And …

McGuireWoods London partners Francesca Titus, Mehboob Dossa and William Boddy, Chicago partner Rodger Heaton and D.C. associate Andrew Thornton-Dibb contributed to Global Investigations Review's sixth edition of “The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations.” The lawyers wrote the cybersecurity section of “Volume I: Global Investigations in the United Kingdom and the United States.” Their discussion examined recent cases, issues that can arise in cyber investigations and how to respond to cyberattacks. It …

Compliance Week quoted McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus in a Dec. 13, 2021, article on the UK Attorney General’s Office investigation of the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) after the agency denied a convicted former oil and gas executive the right to a fair trial. The UK Court of Appeal overturned the conviction of a former Unaoil executive who was sentenced to prison for bribing public officials to secure building contracts worth $55 million …

As the UK Bribery Act marked its 10th anniversary, Compliance Week assessed the legislation and its enforcement in a July 14, 2021, article that quoted McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus. At the time of enactment, the law was considered “the gold standard” for anti-bribery legislation, but views are mixed on how it has fared. A lack of convictions — just five cases have made it to court since 2011 — and greater fear of the U …

… company’s operations,” the authors wrote. Their third article, “Securing corporate convictions: differences between the US and UK,” appeared in Financier Worldwide’s April 2021 issue. Highlighting the differences between UK and U.S. prosecutions, the article compared the countries’ theories of liability and their individual approaches to self-reporting, plea agreements, cooperators and dispute resolutions. Titus, Cowley and Thornton-Dibb explained that in the United States, a company can be held criminally responsible …

Financier Worldwide, a UK publication covering corporate finance and board-level business issues, honored McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus as a “Distinguished Advisor” in “POWER PLAYERS: Investigations & White-Collar Crime 2021.”In its Q&A with Titus, the publication asked about her career motivations and approach to work. She said “preparation is key” and “the devil is in the details” are two lessons learned in law school that persist in her representation of clients today …

McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus, D.C.-based international attorney Andrew Thornton-Dibb, Chicago partner Rodger Heaton, and London partners Mehboob Dossa and William Boddy contributed to Global Investigation Review's fifth edition of “The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations.” The lawyers wrote the CyberSecurity section of “Volume I: Global Investigations in the United Kingdom and the United States.” Their discussion examines recent cases, issues that can arise in cyber investigations and how to …

McGuireWoods partner Francesca Titus commented in two Compliance Week articles discussing corporate accountability laws in the UK and Europe. In a Feb. 4, 2021, article titled “Europe handcuffed by current corporate liability laws, is change coming? ” Titus cautioned that the identification principle targeting heads of small and family-run businesses has become increasingly “outdated” in a global economy. “Now that criminal activity is often cross-border and involves multinationals with complex structures, the identification principle …

McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus was quoted in two July articles about the conviction record of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The Times quoted Titus in a July 9, 2020, story about recent investigation failures and lack of convictions by the SFO across corruption and fraud cases. While COVID-19 has had a hand in disrupting progress by the office, some believe that director Lisa Osofsky has been too slow to make notable …

The Wall Street Journal quoted McGuireWoods London partner Francesca Titus in a June 5, 2020, story on responses by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to independent assessments of its leadership and case management. Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate issued two reports last year criticizing how the SFO engages with staff and handles cases. The SFO recently responded by accepting most of the HMCPSI recommendations and outlining steps it would take to …

… high-profile individuals in some of the most prominent and complicated matters of the past decade. "McGuireWoods has built a powerful government investigations and white collar practice with global reach, and I am excited to join this talented team,” Titus said. “I look forward to putting my experience to work for the firm and our clients.” McGuireWoods ranks among the world’s leading investigations firms in the GIR 100, a guide to top cross …